August is considered the slow part of the box office Summer. The kids are gearing up to go back to school and generally speaking most people just can’t be arsed to leave the house. Not projecting here, I swear. However, it’s been quite the boon for Warner Bros. this month, as they take the top two spots with a pair of films that weren’t expected to perform as strongly as they did. Crazy Rich Asians soared past early projections to take over $25m domestically in its opening weekend. Over five days, it took in around $34m, meaning it’s made back its budget and then some. Historically, this is a big deal given the film’s status as the first Asian-led studio movie since The Joy Luck Club 25 years ago, but it’s also a big deal for rom-com lovers. Reviews have been top notch and audience word of mouth has spread rapidly, which will surely help bolster this one to at least $100m domestically. Alas, us Brits don’t get the film until NOVEMBER!

Warner Bros. also has The Meg holding on strong at number 2. It fell 53% in gross from last weekend but it still beat out Marky Mark. Ha! We all like a giant shark, and that’s true for international numbers too. Over 73% of the revenue has come from overseas, bringing its overall gross to $314m so far. So yes, this is a legitimate hit. bless you, Statham.

Marky Mark’s Mile 22 fell below early estimates and landed at number 3 with $13.6m. It was in a comparable number of theatres to Crazy Rich Asians but made just over half that film’s opening weekend gross.

New at number 5 is Alpha with $10.5m. I honestly hadn’t heard of this film until very recently but apparently the budget was mid-range and it doesn’t need to do too much business to recoup costs.

The three major indie releases of the week are The Wife, Juliet, Naked and Blaze. The former, starring Glenn Close, is garnering a lot of Oscar buzz for its star (seriously, how has she never won one before? Did none of these people see Dangerous Liaisons?), and it opened strongly with $111k in 4 theatres. Blaze gives Ethan Hawke another indie hit, but this time as a director, and opened with $45k in three theatres. Juliet, Naked is another Hawke film - dude never stops working - based on a Nick Hornby book that made $60k from 4 theatres.

New releases this coming weekend include Pajiba Favourite John Cho’s Searching, the Melissa McCarthy dirty Muppets movie The Happytime Murders, and a movie about a robotic dog who runs away from the military and befriends a human boy. Yup, that’s getting a wide release.